History From Below (2010)












9/11 lyrics - Delta Spirit

Say good morning to my friends
Oh, my Lord, it's 6am
The day ain't nothin' but a sentence paid
You work so hard and nothin' changed

The union crooks treat me like a pawn
They said to strike and I lost my job
The folks back east, they say the market's fine
I heard that before 1929

When Black Tuesday comes it'll be a hit
Right out of the air into the pit
There's one out now said The President
War World 3 will make your poor horns bend

All the old boys said they could make it last
Like Vietnam without a draft
Got the best in the biz for the marketing, yeah
We'll turn the Marlboro Man into a marine

The brave youth will come from far and wide
When 911 is the battle cry

Well, this American, proud tradition
Yes, they pulled the switch and cried for vengeance
If your God forgave all of your sins
Then why would you make martyrs out of them?

For money? Or power? Or glory?
Do you even care?

Bushwick Blues lyrics - Delta Spirit

Hold on to my hand
Never let go, never let go
We were just two kids acting tough
Then we grew up, me, not so much

All the other guys
That you've seen
Are nothing compared to me

Because my love is strong
And my heart is weak after all

When we first met
We spoke so brief
When you sang a sonnet
I hummed sweet relief

Do you recall that night
We took the L
Out into Bushwick?
It was colder than hell

So maybe there
We should have stopped
'Cause I'm left here
Feeling like a cop

Because my love is strong
And my heart is weak after all

To the other side
Of the state's return
I met a young girl
Well, I couldn't manage her

Because I think of you
In every girl I meet
It's no relief
That sounds to me just as sweet

So maybe I'm the fool
For feeling used
By the way we kissed that night
I though you knew

Because my love is strong
And my heart is weak after all

Salt In The Wound lyrics - Delta Spirit

I want to disappear
Far from the folks I know
I want to get an answer
To why I was even born

No one here can tell me
What's been haunting me all my life
Well, this rat race has left me limping
'Cause I balanced on the edge of the knife

Why am I here?
Oh, what should I do?
Well, is this the point I'm trying to prove?

If there's a God in my head
Then there's a devil too
How can I tell the difference
When they both claim to be true?

Maybe God is God
Maybe the Devil is me
Well, I just throw my chains on
And tell myself that I'm free

Chains, are they really there?
Is this just in my head?
Well, I'll just stay in bed

Life sure has its meaning
Over years I have postured the sun
Thieves and preachers robbed me
For many hat that I've hung

Now with my heart wide open
I listen to the wind just for a word
Sure, I know it's futile
But that's all I have in this world

To look down from the hill and howl at the moon
All the tears I cried never salted any wounds
Well, the earth is so tender and cruel
Well, if you're not there it's still so beautiful

White Table lyrics - Delta Spirit

Meet me darlin', won't you?
I've been waiting for you
At my lonesome white table
Ready, willing and able

Torn in two, beaten and scarred
I'll give you my love but not my heart
Tattered and worn, battered and bruised
I'll give you my love but it won't be true

Someday, darlin', maybe
You could be my baby
Until then I'll be waitin'
At my lonesome white table

Torn in two, beaten and scarred
I'll give you my love but not my heart
Tattered and worn, battered and bruised
I'll give you my love but it won't be true

Ransom Man lyrics - Delta Spirit

With a blindfold I can walk
I see colors when you talk
Could paint your picture with one black crayon
Yes I am your ransom man

I came for you, that is correct
My trunk is hungry from neglect
I would show you, but it's too direct
Well I am your ransom man

I wore some holes into my boots
It's been weeks now following you
They say Los Angeles is a desolate land
Well I am your ransom man

I took some work for a strongarm
You were a sucker for his charm
You see they love you with the back of his hand
Well I am your ransom man

Darlin' I know that you are sweet
Just a midwest transplant with your dreams
Well if I don't kill you he will kill me
Well I am your ransom man

Just one look would make the call
I put that bastard's head right through a wall
Be the great returning of glass into sand
well I am your ransom man

Kiss me on the cheek and I'll be gone
Please do not leave flowers on my lawn
Just wanna hear Dixie from a funeral band
Well I am the ransom man

Just wanna hear dixie from a funeral band

Devil Knows You're Dead lyrics - Delta Spirit

May the wind be always at your back
And the sun shine warm upon your face
May the rains fall soft upon your field
Until the day we meet again

And the roof that hangs over your head
Find you shelter from the storm

Before the devil knows you're dead
May you be in heaven, my friend

May good luck find you at your worst
And bad love lose you at your best
May your days be rich and full of wealth
And your nights be long when you need rest

And the roof that hangs over your head
Find you shelter from the storm

Before the devil knows you're dead
May you be in heaven, my friend

And the road, may it rise to meet your feet
And be downhill all the way to your door
May the grass below be green and the sky above be blue
May it be so forever more

And the roof that hangs over your head
Find you shelter from the storm

Before the devil knows you're dead
May you be in heaven, my friend

Golden State lyrics - Delta Spirit

These roads stretch a thousand miles
In every way, I look for the day
As we ride over the hill
Well, I am blind

The Golden State has been home
But I place my stake to roam and to rake
But good souls we mend
Would teach me in what course to take

Good friends remain
Even through the pain
Of a long road ahead

At 48 we seem so well
For three short years we worked like hell
I've been here before lyin' on your floor
It was good to me

Good friends remain
Even through the pain
Of a long road ahead

These roads stretch a thousand miles
In every way, I look for the day
As we ride over the hill
Well, I am blind

Good friends remain
Even through the pain
Of a long road ahead

Good friends remain
Even through the strain
Of a long road ahead

Scarecrow lyrics - Delta Spirit

Oh, scarecrow
You know why I'm asleep?
All the weight you bear you cannot carry

You know you're just like you're mother
And your bag all packed to go
And you hid your heart from everyone you know

You say you'd never love another
Unless they bore your own name
Oh, your kin, they trample on you just the same

Oh, I gave my love to a harlot I'm told
And the blackness of a scarecrow no one knows
Well, I'm red in the blood that I have drained
That I wasted in a rain

Well, your love that takes your picture
And your love that worships
Well, if you can't see it then soon you will

And you frequent the same strip club
You love to watch the ladies dance
Well, you always know I don't do shit like that

While I was out in Scotland
You were out with him
And you took your shot and you threw up your limbs

Well, I gave my love to a harlot I'm told
And the blackness of a scarecrow you cannot hold
Well, I'm red in the blood that I have drained
That I wasted in a rain

Well, you deserve applause for splitting me into
Well, I count you on the list of a mortal few
Well, I hope that you were happy
I could only wish you the best
But your beauty vacant setting in the west

And this may just say redundant
Because you've chosen your own fate
Was I more to you than just a pretty face?

Well, I'll give my love to a harlot, I will
And the blackness of a scarecrow you cannot kill
Well, I'm red in the blood that I have drained
That I wasted waiting for rain

Vivian lyrics - Delta Spirit

Sleep, oh, sleep, my Vivian
Heaven is too cold without you
Well, I'll stay right here above the clouds
Waiting to see heaven with you

Well, I'll fall for each breath as long as I could
Fighting with nothing, no
The last breath I took blew through the wind
And into nothing at all

Sleep, oh, sleep, my Vivian
Heaven is too cold without you
Well, I'll stay right here below the clouds
Waiting to see heaven with you

Well, I know it's hard to deal with the pain
You yell from your liver giving out
Well, just close your eyes and think of me
Oh, Jerry's not leaving this gal

Sleep, oh, sleep, my Vivian
Heaven is too cold without you
Well, I'll stay right here above your house
Waiting to see heaven with you

Oh, your firey red hair and your warm brown eyes
You remember the day that we wed?
Forever our souls are intertwined
Not separate even in death

Sleep, oh, sleep, my Vivian
Heaven ain't nothing without you
Well, I'll stay right here beside your bed
Waiting to see heaven with you
Waiting to see heaven with you
Waiting to see heaven with you

St. Francis lyrics - Delta Spirit

[Verse:]
They're all throwing stones at the back of my home
Kicking the dirt in the air
Well I left to think while they're thinking I'm stoned
Well I had no cause to be there

And out of this town while I had something left
Bury the fear in my head
Well it's all just the same cause the city's just as bare
It's full of people like me

[Chorus:]
We've all run away
Everyone wants but nobody needs
Silver and gold
Well everyone wants, but nobody needs

[Interlude similar to verse]

Well I ran to the woods and I preached to the birds
St. Francis talking to me
Well they said I'd find love in a pain I'd endure
If I would just listen to him

With my ear to the ground and my heart full of lead
Well I quietly listened to him teach
But with tears in his eyes, he just looked straight through me
I awkwardly waited for speech

We've all run away
Everyone wants but nobody needs
Silver and gold
Everyone wants, but nobody needs

[Interlude w/ changed piano part]

Once I was sure that this love was the truth
Well I quickly spit in his face
I returned to my home, friends and I, we threw stones
Bragging that we knew the way

[hummed chorus 1x until the end]

Ballad Of Vitaly lyrics - Delta Spirit

In the German sky there once was a plane
It carried 71 children and their mothers to Spain
Well, this plane was sure somethin'
It was full of young Russians
Proudly to gander at topics discussin'

Now Pete the Swiss was doublin' shifts
Jugglin' the iron controlled by his lips
Not a minute too soon children fell to their doom
Struck dead in the air, orphan a father or two

He just laid in the alley
Now orphan Vitaly met a young girl, married her quickly
Was so damn in love that they had their two kids

Had a great job, construction in Spain
They were goin' to see Papa from Caucasus mountain range
Now that damn Swissman crashed them into a plane
I will find where he lives, speak to his face
With the blood in my eyes, he will see my pain

Many weeks passed, for fear of a suit
The airline said nothin', Vitaly turned blue
For the killin' they done, no apology made
Is it 'cause we are Russian you treat us this way?

Through a friend that he new Vitaly found Pete
He came to his doorstep expectin' to speak
But Pete blew him off, threw down the pictures Vi brought
Pictures of the 3 most important he lost

As the pictures fell down
Re-enacting the day
Vitaly's eye blackened
No human remained

Well, so much can be said
For a man in his shoes
There's no glamour in vengeance
There's only this rule

That the lives that you lost
Can never come back
And the deed in return
Is worse than the act

Blinded by love and the pain of his loss
He could not remember the act of assault
He awoke in his room all covered in blood
The cops they'd come knockin', they knew what he'd done

The government leaned
Vitaly was free
They called him the hero, a man above kings
A shadow of man, they were praising his deed

He was alone, killed a father of 3
No deed that he did could make him complete
It could have been different if only Pete said
I'm sorry for killin' the few joys you had

But now there's nothin' for Vitaly to do
But step off a cliff or hang in the noose
Robbed of forgiveness that he could've gave
There's no man left to save

Ode To Sunshine (2008)












Tomorrow Goes Away lyrics - Delta Spirit

Every time I see you
It gets a little worse
Perhaps things are getting better
But how can one be so sure?

So I will take it slowly
So that I can rest assure
Wait until tomorrow goes away

In the evening when I wake up
I would love to hear you say
Ooh

Wait until tomorrow goes away
Oh, wait until tomorrow goes away
Wait until tomorrow goes away

Trashcan lyrics - Delta Spirit

Brothers hold the line till we got something
This world is way too small to feel like nothing
I was found near the train tracks looking so homeless at you
You came like a copper, you said, "Son, it's time to move"

My love is coming I can barely, hardly wait around

When my mother left the bat was the only one here
He is just a reason why I'm still here
My mother's well spoken, no I didn't get that gene
But yes, I lost it, and yes, my eyes they are green

My love is coming I can barely, hardly wait around

Well if you hide your questions there's no answer
I finally found the cure for my own cancer, yeah

My love is coming I can barely, hardly wait
My heart is thumping, I can feel it more with every beat
My love is coming I can barely, hardly wait around

People C'mon lyrics - Delta Spirit

I'm a wandering soul
I got no place of my own
Well, I got nothing to give
Well, I got nothing to show for it

And I'll be wondering all for all my years
What I become, no one could know

If you're feeling what I'm feeling c'mon
All you soul searching people c'mon

And I got something to say, my friends
I will never lay down without a fight
And when I die, it will be the day
When every one of my wrongs will be made right

Only time's gonna heal my pain
Lord knows the mistakes I will make
Yeah, there'll be peace in my soul someday
Reconcile I'll be on my way

And I'll be wondering all for all my years
What I become, no one can say

If you're feeling what I'm feeling c'mon
All you soul searching people c'mon
Oh no, if you're feeling what I'm feeling c'mon
All you soul searching people c'mon, oh

Bah, bah, bah, bah
Bah, bah, bah
Bah, bah, bah
Bah, bah, bah

La, la, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la

And I'll be wondering all for all these years
What I become, no one could know
If you're feeling what I'm feeling c'mon
All you soul searching people c'mon

House Built For Two lyrics - Delta Spirit

The years have been turning on
You left me at home
To carve my own stone
I cried picking up pride
Oh granite won't lie
We all got along

Well it's true
Build this for you
A house fit for two
Is too small for you

Our son is losing his mind
His drugs that he hides
You can see in his veins
The steps he's needing to take
His back it might brake
We both need you here

It's true
I build this for you
A house fit for two
Is too small for you
It's a shame
Leave you to blame
Changing your name
And left him insane

Return like a prodigal sheep
It's cold in the keep
But I have you here
I work hard then watch some TV
You staring at me
What are you doing there?
Get up
Lay down your crown
What are you doing now?
Say I'm tired as hell
Yeah I'm broke
Ain't got as much as you
To tell you the truth
Still am your man

It's true
I build this for you
A house fit for two
Is too small for you
It's a shame
Leave you to blame
Changing your name
And left me insane

The words on the tip of your tongue
Like a song I once sung
And you threw it away
That tune
Old melody
Had hope in its ring
Those years never came

Strange Vine lyrics - Delta Spirit

It's such a strange vine
Wrapped around my neck
All twisted up between my stem
Between my stem

I'm tripping and falling over
Things we just couldn't get over
I tried my best
Get it off my chest

Songs we never wrote
Seeds they wouldn't sow
We're taken it all to the end
And we're planting our own garden

The sun came while you were shining
The time flew while we were writing
Symphony in the key of D

Songs that had lost their luster
Finally they found their color
Oh

Songs we never wrote
Seeds they wouldn't sow
We're taking it all to the end
And we're planting our own garden

We made jokes about starting a new band
Six years working this whole plan
Maybe I'll make a home
With you

It's been a straight life and it's preacher living
These break lights city limits
I can't afford the truth
We are two indians in the same canoe
Maybe I'll just start something new

We're taking it all to the end
And we're planting our own garden
We're taking it all to the end
We're planting our own garden
We're planting our own garden
Planting our own garden

Streetwalker lyrics - Delta Spirit

Streetwalker knows how to strut right
She knows the truth
Bad boys walking through the corridor
God knows what they're gonna do

Darkness paraded across the headlines
"Little girl stolen from her bedroom"
Homeless, beat to death, or put out
Hopeless, greedy and cruel

Oh why can't I feel for you?
My heart is so black to you, oh

Her head is spinning like a hurricane
Tina was singing her name
Old men like to rape her in the red light
She's too young and numb to complain

Little boy bought at the age of six
Down the street he's wearing a dress
Look at his face, you won't see no innocence
He's got so much experience

Oh why can't I feel?
The lie, what can I not do?

Oh Love, set me free, set me free
Come on and set me free
Oh Lord, set them free, set them free
Yeah, it could have been me

Underground, the German Casanova
Underground, The Panamanian Queen
He whispers, "Down here, the law will never find you.
Down here I am your God and King"

It's a sin to sit and just do nothing
There's a special place in hell for me
Oh God, I just gotta do something
I swear to God this is happening

Oh Love, set me free, set me free
Come on and set me free
Oh Lord, set them free, set them free
Yeah, it could have been me
Oh Lord, set them free, set them free
It could have been me

People, Turn Around lyrics - Delta Spirit

Eighteen and jaded with guns in their hands
They were fighting for freedom and just what is that?
Bills to the banks and food for the kids
Money for college but couldn't get in

Made all the grades but got taken to task
By a man in an alley wearing a mask
Screamed and she begged as the people walked by
The man, he just laughed and the woman she cried

Well, it's time all you people, turn around
For the life we've been living, messing around
The blood we've been spilling will bleed us dry
The life we've been killing is your life like mine

The needle is sweet and the snow it is pure
The pain I've been hiding from I'm finding a cure
The night it is warm, well the light it is cold
The family I'm loving, I'm calling them home

It's time all you people, turn around
For the life we've been living, messing around
The blood we've been spilling will bleed us dry
The life we've been killing is your life like mine

My heart it is thumping, the veins they've been blue
The blood that's been pumping, it still hasn't met you
The beard that I'm growing, not fully grown
The years are not coming the way I thought they would

I'm hoping and waiting for something to sing
Like the angels in heaven, the bones on the street
Hoping for love to find a new voice
The song that needs singing has already been sung before

Well, it's time all you people, turn around
For the life we've been living, messing around
The blood we've been spilling will bleed us dry
The life we've been killing is your life like mine

Turn around
For the life we've been living, messing around
The blood we've been spilling will bleed us dry
The life we've been killing is your life like mine

Parade lyrics - Delta Spirit

Living like they never thought they ever could
...forest turn to soot
Burning out the sun
Gonna get mine before the end is come

Liars practice tricks for ten percent of gross
...the people in their homes
Well, I curse this day
My horse was caught in the parade

Running from your death
Last year, you were
Bragging about your gold
Ways...

Bleeding Bells lyrics - Delta Spirit

There's no place to lay my dead
When I can't stay awake
The growth I need is fettered with fear
My heels dug in my place

Keep your heart clasped into your hands
Your family just knows half of where you've been

The indian summer is better than nothing
Burn the sun in my skin
Bleeding bells of inner guilt
Salvation rays are thin

I say to myself you don't need anyone
This world is fucked just as you have become

I stand as a man who's seen many things
My youth has made me strong
I see the fraught of the words I have said
Got nothing for anyone

The words that I speak are like the clinging hell
The songs that I sing been poisoning your well

Hands in my pockets and down on my knees
I beg for will to change
I've spun around from the wheel that I spin
In one week I'll be the same

Children lyrics - Delta Spirit

Children shut your eyes
We'll tell you what to see
This world is burnin' down
And you're the ones to lead

Now look into their hearts
All those who hold the lead
Don't listen to their lies
They only want one thing
Well, I only want one thing

They'll rob you from the truth
And they'll steal you from our house
The blind leading the blind
Don't hang around with their kind

'Cause I love the life I lead
And I know my enemies
Well if God is on our side
That's all you really need
Well that's all we really need
Well that's all I really need

Follow down the road
I was led before you were born
No, it's not your choice
To pick your own fight

When you sitting second class
And as long as you're in control
Speaking when you're asked
You make your own stand
And you take your own stand
Well I'll make my own stand
And I take my own stand

Ode To Sunshine lyrics - Delta Spirit

When your working is done
And you have nothing left to lose
Why don't you just roll away
That stone that's locked you up?

When your pattern is full
And it feels like there's no place to land
When will you all run out of gas?
Yeah, it happened so fast
Leaving town for sell to pal

I recall only nights that we built
With our hands and feet, making peace
With the voice in our head
That ghost just stop
Won't lie dead, it just bleeds

Let the prophet rebound
Let his riddle rub on to my pride
I'm just to hollow inside
Let it echo in time just to get it
Through my head and mouth

Through the gorgeous light of the sun
And which I could never outrun
Even if my perdition were just in front

The sun's got my shine
The sun's got my pride
I could run but I'd never
Live without your light

The sun's got my shine
The sun's got my pride
I could run but I'd never
Live without your light

Live without your light
Live without your light
Live without your light

When your working is done
And you've got nothing left to lose
Why don't you just roll away
That stone that's locked you up in your blues?

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